Coronavirus: Refuse Covid patients if you can’t stop spread of virus, care homes told

Care homes should refuse to take coronavirus patients from hospitals if they cannot prevent the spread of the disease, the care watchdog has told The Independent.

Staff should admit these patients only if care homes are equipped with the right personal protective equipment (PPE) and infection prevention measures, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said.

During the first wave of the pandemic, care homes saw widespread outbreaks of the virus with 16,000 deaths. Homes struggled to access protective clothing for staff and were forced to take 25,000 untested patients discharged from hospitals.

In an in-depth interview, Kate Terroni, the CQC’s chief inspector of social care, said care homes should not be put under pressure during a second wave to take infected patients they could not properly look after.

She said any home that refused to admit patients would have her support.

“Care home providers should only admit a resident when they are confident they can meet their care needs, so where they are confident they’ve got good infection prevention control, they’ve got the right PPE, they’ve got the right workforce."

“We will absolutely support a provider to say they cannot admit someone if those ingredients aren’t in place.”

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Source: The Independent, 12 October 2020,